Local Policy Development Consultant

Background
Developing a mental health policy and plan is crucial for reforming mental health services worldwide. Mental health polices support governments to create a clear road map for developing mental health services. The occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has been one of the pioneer countries in the region, and developed a five years mental health policy direction, called the Strategic Operational Plan (SOP), in 2004.
The SOP was revised in 2009, the specific objectives for Palestine were reformulated, and the analysis of achievements between 2004-2009 was conducted and reported. The policy reflected the needs and priorities of both the West Bank and Gaza. Short to intermediate mental health plans were generated separately in the West Bank and Gaza to respond to the immediate needs of service development.
The WHO office in the oPt is facilitating a second revision of the mental health policy as well as the mental health objectives and priority areas for 2015-2017. The revision process should be participatory to involve key mental health stakeholders. A local consultant is needed to support the writing and editing of the mental health policy. The process will be led by and to support the task force which is headed by the Mental Health Unit at the Ministry of Health and the guidance of an international consultant.

Qualifications
The local consultant should possess the following:
Native in both English and Arabic languages, with strong writing capacity in English
Relevant experience in in the health sector, and specifically in mental health and/or policy development.
Masters degree in sociology mental health, public health, health or business administration
At least 5 years of relevant experience
Responsibilities
The local consultant will be required to:
Attend meetings of the mental health task force .and be responsible of the meeting minutes bimonthly.
Attend regular meetings with WHO mental health project staff once per week
Draft, revise and finalize the Mental Health policy, and strategic plan based on the discussions among the stakeholders and under guidance from the mental health task force and international consultant

Required tasks including the following:
a-Support the task force to conduct a needs assessment/situation analysis of the existing mental health situation in the oPt.
b-Collect, with the help of the task force, the essential information from designated mental health organisations as needed for the situation analysis.
c-Support the task force members in assessing the achievement of the existing mental health policy over the past five years.
d-Support the task force members in reviewing and updating the specific mental health objectives for the oPt according to the current needs and challenges.
e-As needed, the consultant will conduct field visits and facilitate small groups to conduct specific assessments required for the situation analysis.
f-Review relevant mental health policies in the region in order to inform the task force on the development of the mental health situation in the region.
g-Support the task force in developing the plan that describe priority areas for the development of the mental services in the oPt.
h-Regularly communicate with the international consultant as the policy and strategy are reviewed and drafted

Essential skills
Good experience in health policy development
Fluent in English language and Arabic
Excellent skills in report writing
Ability to work in a team
Ability to facilitate groups and processes


Logistic and Financial arrangements
The revision of the existing policy is expected to be completed in eight months, starting November 01, 2014 through May 31, 2015. The development of the policy will be achieved through the monthly meetings of two task forces, one in the West Bank and one in Gaza.
The local consultant should attend all meetings, in addition to work another three days per months to continue and complete all the work needed in developing the policy.
The expected working days will be five full working days per month.
The WHO consultancy scale will be used to determine the daily rate.

Interested candidates are requested to send their CVs in English to [email protected]
The last date to submit the CVs is 2nd Nov 2014
Short listed candidates will be contacted.

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